Japanese operator NTT Docomo has partnered with electronics company Pioneer to develop technology to support intelligent transport systems (ITS).

The business and capital alliance will see Pioneer’s in-car navigation telematics technology integrated with Docomo’s mobile cloud expertise, and Docomo will acquire a 7 per cent stake in Pioneer for approximately JPY5 billion ($50 million).

The ITS technology will use data gathered from Pioneer’s car-mounted navigation devices and Docomo smartphones, processed by Pioneer’s ITS cloud platform.

The companies will jointly develop services that use this information and plan to launch them to consumers and corporate customers later this year. They will also sell compatible in-car communications devices.

Docomo and Pioneer have worked together before to integrate car electronics and information services in the Docomo Drive Net navigation service for smartphones.